Design of Technology-Enabled Interactions for Flow Experience in an Omnichannel Customer Journey.

The omnichannel retail strategy has become increasingly popular in recent years as retailers strive to provide a seamless customer experience across all channels. However, multiple studies indicate that retailers are facing challenges in delivering desired experiences in an omnichannel environment. Given this uncertainty faced by many retail firms in an environment with multiple channels, it is imperative for researchers to discern and utilize the factors that improve the customers’ flow when customers are moving between channels. Digital technologies play a vital role in delivering this experience, but retailers need design guidelines to utilize the potential of these technologies effectively. This research addresses this problem by introducing the omniflow framework, a design framework for improving the flow experience in the digital technology-enabled cross-channel customer journey. The study employed the design science research methodology and evaluated the design framework through an in-depth case study with an Irish retailer. This study explores the elements that enable integrated customer interactions with touchpoints across different channels within and outside retailers’ direct control. This study identified the technologies and digital solutions that act as enablers for channel integration activities. It also identifies the various dimensions that constitute the flow experience and proposes design principles linking the dimensions of the flow experience and the design of technology-enabled interactions. The study advances design theory by establishing a link between the design of technology-enabled interactions and the flow experience. The study's findings also contribute to a clearer understanding of the differences between retailer-controlled channel integration and the flow experience in the customer journey, which extends beyond the retailer's control. The results of the study also offer practical insights for retailers seeking to enhance the omnichannel experience for their customers

An aesthetic for sustainable interactions in product-service systems?

Copyright @ 2012 Greenleaf PublishingEco-efficient Product-Service System (PSS) innovations represent a promising approach to sustainability. However the application of this concept is still very limited because its implementation and diffusion is hindered by several barriers (cultural, corporate and regulative ones). The paper investigates the barriers that affect the attractiveness and acceptation of eco-efficient PSS alternatives, and opens the debate on the aesthetic of eco-efficient PSS, and the way in which aesthetic could enhance some specific inner qualities of this kinds of innovations. Integrating insights from semiotics, the paper outlines some first research hypothesis on how the aesthetic elements of an eco-efficient PSS could facilitate user attraction, acceptation and satisfaction

Three essays on hospitality management in emerging markets

Esta tesis contiene artículos de investigación en anexo.This dissertation is composed of three essays on the hospitality management practices in the hotel and airline sectors of emerging markets. The three essays address the issues of loyalty programs, environmental innovations, and electronic word of mouth in hospitality management. The first essay analyzes the factors contributing to the popularity of airline and hotel companies’ loyalty programs. The results show that factors such as the number of program partners, the number of redemption options, and the threshold to elite status can positively contribute to loyalty programs’ popularity, while other factors such as the redemption requirement have a mixed contribution. The second essay examines the impact of environmental innovations on airlines’ financial performance and operational efficiency. Environmental innovations are classified into technology-based and process-based environmental innovations. It is found that both types of innovations can positively influence airlines’ revenue but only process-based environmental innovations have positive impacts on airlines’ profit. In relation to operational efficiency, we found that only process-based environmental innovations exert a positive impact on the aircraft occupancy rate of airlines. The third essay is focused on the electronic word of mouth (eWOM) in the luxury hotel sector of China. The two main online travel channels have been analyzed: online travel agency (OTA) and online meta-search website (OMS). We argue that OTA has a stronger incentive to boost hotels’ eWOM than OMS, as our results show that, for the same hotel, OTA gives significantly better eWOM than OMS. In addition, a positive interactive effect has been found between the channel and the hotel’s origins. These essays provide some original perspectives and research questions on hospitality management in emerging markets with grounded analyses, updated results, and relevant implications for both researchers and practitioners in this field.Esta tesis está compuesta por tres artículos en hospitality management enfocados en los sectores de hoteles y aerolíneas de los mercados emergentes. Los tres artículos abordan los temas de programas de fidelización, innovaciones medioambientales, y boca a boca electrónico, respectivamente. El primer artículo analiza los factores que contribuyen a la popularidad de los programas de fidelización de las compañías aéreas y hoteleras. Los resultados demuestran que los factores como el número de partners del programa, el número de opciones de redención, y el umbral de socios élite están positivamente relacionados con la popularidad de los programas, mientras otros factores como el requerimiento de redención ofrecen unas contribuciones mixtas. El segundo artículo estudia los impactos que dejan las innovaciones medioambientales de las compañías aéreas en sus resultados financieros y eficiencia operacional. Las innovaciones medioambientales se han clasificado en dos tipos: las basadas en tecnología y las basadas en procesos. Los resultados indican que los dos tipos de innovaciones están relacionados positivamente a los ingresos de las compañías aéreas, pero sólo las innovaciones basadas en procesos tienen impactos positivos en los beneficios de las compañías. También se ha encontrado que sólo las innovaciones basadas en procesos afectan positivamente la tasa de ocupación de los vuelos. El tercer artículo se centra en la boca a boca electrónico (eWOM) del sector de hoteles de lujo en China. Se ha analizado los dos principales canales de turismo online: agencia de viaje online (OTA) y página web de meta-search (OMS). Sostenemos que las OTA tienen mayores incentivos de mejorar el eWOM de los hoteles comparadas con las OMS, ya que los resultados demuestran que, para un mismo hotel, las OTA ofrecen significativamente mejor eWOM que las OMS. Adicionalmente, se ha descubierto una interacción positiva entre el origen del canal y el origen del hotel. Estos artículos proporcionan unas perspectivas y temas de investigación originales en hospitality management en el contexto de mercados emergentes con unas análisis sólidas, unos resultados actualizados, y unas implicaciones relevantes tanto para la investigación académica como para la práctica empresarial en este sector.Programa Oficial de Doctorado en Economía de la Empresa y Métodos CuantitativosPresidente: Miguel Ángel Tapia Torres; Secretario: Eloísa Díaz Garrido; Vocal: María Luz Martín Peñ

Improving physical healthcare for people who use heroin and crack cocaine

BACKGROUND: People who use heroin and crack cocaine today are older than in the past. The main causes of illness and death are shifting from infections and drug poisoning (the main health issues in this population in the 1980s and 1990s) to respiratory, cardiovascular, and other non-communicable diseases. Qualitative research has identified barriers to treatment of these conditions. However, research remains focused on preventing crime, drug overdoses, and transmission of blood-borne viruses. This thesis aims to understand the physical health needs of this population, with a focus on people using heroin and crack cocaine in England, and provide recommendations for more accessible healthcare. METHODS: The thesis includes: (a) literature reviews relating to frequency of healthcare utilisation, access to healthcare for physical health problems, and interventions that aim to improve physical healthcare; (b) a qualitative study of clinicians working in community drug and alcohol services to understand how they perceive their role in physical healthcare; (c) a study of causes of death among people who use illicit opioids; (d) a case study of the burden and treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) among people who use illicit opioids. RESULTS: The literature reviews found limited research into access to physical healthcare for people who use illicit drugs, or the effectiveness of interventions that aim to improve healthcare for this population. Existing studies focused on cancer screening participation in the United States, finding that illicit drug use was associated with lower uptake. The qualitative study found that clinicians working in community drug and alcohol services in the UK often take a ‘health advocate’ approach to help their clients get appointments with GPs and other health services. However, participants reported limited success, and many referrals end in non-attendance. Although participants said they were often the first point of contact for a wide range of health problems, they did not have the resources to respond to these needs and felt isolated from other health services. The study of mortality found that illicit opioid use was associated with greater risk of all causes of death, including respiratory diseases, cancers, cardiovascular diseases, infections, liver disease, and accidents. While the highest relative mortality risks were associated with drug poisoning and viral hepatitis, more excess deaths were caused by physical non-communicable diseases. At a population level, the increasing average age of people using drugs explains an increase in deaths due to non-communicable diseases, but not the recent increase in drug-related deaths. The case study of COPD found that a history of illicit opioids was associated with more severe disease at diagnosis, approximately double the risk of adverse outcomes such as acute exacerbations, but similar probability of treatments such as COPD-specific medications, immunisation against respiratory infections, and smoking cessation support. CONCLUSION: The health needs of people who use heroin and crack cocaine are shifting toward physical non-communicable diseases. Services that support people who use heroin and crack cocaine are not equipped for this. The case study of COPD suggests that COPD-related inequalities are likely to be driven by exposures before diagnosis and later diagnosis, rather than access to care after diagnosis. This shows the need for more accessible primary care for this population and investment in primary prevention such as smoking cessation. FUNDING: National Institute for Health Researc

Smart Service Innovation: Organization, Design, and Assessment

Background: The emergence of technologies such as the Internet of Things, big data, cloud computing, and wireless communication drives the digital transformation of the entire society. Organizations can exploit these potentials by offering new data-driven services with innovative value propositions, such as carsharing, remote equipment maintenance, and energy management services. These services result from value co-creation enabled by smart service systems, which are configurations of people, processes, and digital technologies. However, developing such systems was found to be challenging in practice. This is mainly due to the difficulties of managing complexity and uncertainty in the innovation process, as contributions of various actors from multiple disciplines must be coordinated. Previous research in service innovation and service systems engineering (SSE) has not shed sufficient light on the specifics of smart services, while research on smart service systems lacks empirical grounding. Purpose: This thesis aims to advance the understanding of the systematic development of smart services in multi-actor settings by investigating how smart service innovation (SSI) is conducted in practice, particularly regarding the participating actors, roles they assume, and methods they apply for designing smart service systems. Furthermore, the existing set of methods is extended by new methods for the design-integrated assessment of smart services and service business models. Approach: Empirical and design science methods were combined to address the research questions. To explore how SSI is conducted in practice, 25 interviews with experts from 13 organizations were conducted in two rounds. Building on service-dominant logic (SDL) as a theoretical foundation and a multi-level framework for SSI, the involvement of actors, their activities, employed means, and experienced challenges were collected. Additionally, a case study was used to evaluate the suitability of the Lifecycle Modelling Language to describe smart service systems. Design science methods were applied to determine a useful combination of service design methods and to build meta-models and tools for assessing smart services. They were evaluated using experiments and the talk aloud method. Results: On the macro-level, service ecosystems consist of various actors that conduct service innovation through the reconfiguration of resources. Collaboration of these actors is facilitated on the meso-level within a project. The structure and dynamics of project configurations can be described through a set of roles, innovation patterns, and ecosystem states. Four main activities have been identified, which actors perform to reduce uncertainty in the project. To guide their work, actors apply a variety of means from different disciplines to develop and document work products. The approach of design-integrated business model assessment is enabled through a meta-model that links qualitative aspects of service architectures and business models with quantitative assessment information. The evaluation of two tool prototypes showed the feasibility and benefit of this approach. Originality / Value: The results reported in this thesis advance the understanding of smart service innovation. They contribute to evidence-based knowledge on service systems engineering and its embedding in service ecosystems. Specifically, the consideration of actors, roles, activities, and methods can enhance existing reference process models. Furthermore, the support of activities in such processes through suitable methods can stimulate discussions on how methods from different disciplines can be applied and combined for developing the various aspects of smart service systems. The underlying results help practitioners to better organize and conduct SSI projects. As potential roles in a service ecosystem depend on organizational capabilities, the presented results can support the analysis of ex¬ternal dependencies and develop strategies for building up internal competencies.:Abstract iii Content Overview iv List of Abbreviations viii List of Tables x List of Figures xii PART A - SYNOPSIS 1 1 Introduction 2 1.1 Motivation 2 1.2 Research Objectives and Research Questions 4 1.3 Thesis Structure 6 2 Research Background 7 2.1 Smart Service Systems 7 2.2 Service-Dominant Logic 8 2.3 Service Innovation in Ecosystems 11 2.4 Systematic Development of Smart Service Systems 13 3 Research Approach 21 3.1 Research Strategy 21 3.2 Applied Research Methods 22 4 Summary of Findings 26 4.1 Overview of Research Results 26 4.2 Organizational Setup of Multi-Actor Smart Service Innovation 27 4.3 Conducting Smart Service Innovation Projects 32 4.4 Approaches for the Design-integrated Assessment of Smart Services 39 5 Discussion 44 5.1 Contributions 44 5.2 Limitations 46 5.3 Managerial Implications 47 5.4 Directions for Future Research 48 6 Conclusion 54 References 55 PART B - PUBLICATIONS 68 7 It Takes More than Two to Tango: Identifying Roles and Patterns in Multi-Actor Smart Service Innovation 69 7.1 Introduction 69 7.2 Research Background 72 7.3 Methodology 76 7.4 Results 79 7.5 Discussion 90 7.6 Conclusions and Outlook 96 7.7 References 97 8 Iterative Uncertainty Reduction in Multi-Actor Smart Service Innovation 100 8.1 Introduction 100 8.2 Research Background 103 8.3 Research Approach 109 8.4 Findings 113 8.5 Discussion 127 8.6 Conclusions and Outlook 131 8.7 References 133 9 How to Tame the Tiger – Exploring the Means, Ends, and Challenges in Smart Service Systems Engineering 139 9.1 Introduction 139 9.2 Research Background 140 9.3 Methodology 143 9.4 Results 145 9.5 Discussion and Conclusions 151 9.6 References 153 10 Combining Methods for the Design of Digital Services in Practice: Experiences from a Predictive Costing Service 156 10.1 Introduction 156 10.2 Conceptual Foundation 157 10.3 Preparing the Action Design Research Project 158 10.4 Application and Evaluation of Methods 160 10.5 Discussion and Formalization of Learning 167 10.6 Conclusion 169 10.7 References 170 11 Modelling of a Smart Service for Consumables Replenishment: A Life Cycle Perspective 171 11.1 Introduction 171 11.2 Life Cycles of Smart Services 173 11.3 Case Study 178 11.4 Discussion of the Modelling Approach 185 11.5 Conclusion and Outlook 187 11.6 References 188 12 Design-integrated Financial Assessment of Smart Services 192 12.1 Introduction 192 12.2 Problem Analysis 195 12.3 Meta-Model Design 200 12.4 Application of the Meta-Model in a Tool Prototype 204 12.5 Evaluation 206 12.6 Discussion 208 12.7 Conclusions 209 12.8 References 211 13 Towards a Cost-Benefit-Analysis of Data-Driven Business Models 215 13.1 Introduction 215 13.2 Conceptual Foundation 216 13.3 Methodology 218 13.4 Case Analysis 220 13.5 A Cost-Benefit-Analysis Model for DDBM 222 13.6 Conclusion and Outlook 225 13.7 References 226 14 Enabling Design-integrated Assessment of Service Business Models Through Factor Refinement 228 14.1 Introduction 228 14.2 Related Work 229 14.3 Research Goal and Method 230 14.4 Solution Design 231 14.5 Demonstration 234 14.6 Discussion 235 14.7 Conclusion 236 14.8 References 23

Financial constraints and the small open economy

The thesis develops a new model of the small open economy emphasizing financial constraints, based on the notion of liquidity preference as a constraining tendency on the income adjustment process. Preference for liquid assets results in a number of financial states of constraint, such as financial vulnerability, financial exclusion and financial fragility. These are explored in a regional and international context. Openness brings with it new opportunity as well as potential constraints. Models of small open economies have in general assumed away the latter and have neglected the consequences of financial openness. This is reflected in the absence of a means to identify economies as small and open on the basis of their financial exposure. The financial vulnerability index is developed to address this deficit. Applied to twenty-one countries, the index reveals that emerging countries can be classified as small open economies constrained by preference for liquid assets. Policies designed with the conventional approach to constraints in mind appear to be inappropriate for these countries. The concept of constraints has rarely been dealt with explicitly and a possible categorisation of constraints for mainstream and Post Keynesian schools is developed. It proves to be a useful point of entry for grasping ontological differences between schools. It also provides insights into the constraining tendencies facing the small open economy, and how they can be managed. When these insights are applied to the South African economy, the current macroeconomic policy, and critiques thereof, are found to be wanting

The Effect of Using Social Media Marketing on Customer Engagement in the Public Sector: The Case of the Zakat Fund

Social Media Sites (SMSs) are affecting a wide cross-section of marketing activities, including research, strategy formulation, advertising, promotions and sales. It is proposed that Social Media Sites (SMSs) are not only an addition to the modern marketer\u27s toolkit, but mark an endemic and ecological change. The purpose of this research is to investigate what antecedents determine a user\u27s engagement with an account on a social media sites (SMSs). Through their use, the social media have facilitated various business opportunities as well as providing the public sector with platforms through which organizations can engage current and future customers. Still, the huge gap of practical knowledge about the role of SMSs in the public sector should not be forgotten. A key issue is this area is the focus on the user\u27s; however, beyond this, the dissertation probed below the surface to see how such virtual engagement is conceptualized and what factors facilitate and support customer materialization. In the same context, this research assesses the effectiveness of using Social Media Marketing (SMM) as a tool in the public sector and attempts to shed light on it by examining the different user needs that SMSs satisfy, together with the important implications and outcomes for public sector bodies hoping to become involved in SMM. Consequently, it proposes a framework to serve the building of theory for understanding Customer Materialization on SMSs. The research model was based on the premise that SMSs are likely to symbolically engage users in the social media when public sector organizations pay close attention to three key areas: Adoption, Implications and Outcomes. This research is notable for proposing an integrated framework which considers different aspects of social science: the media, technology, and marketing. The Uses and Gratifications theory (U&G Theory), the technology acceptance model (TAM) and the Customer Engagement Cycle are used as instruments in this research. With their aid, a questionnaire was developed to target Zakat Fund followers on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. The questionnaire was hosted online, and then, a web link was posted to the Zakat Fund Accounts on the SMSs. E-mails were also sent to more than 2,000 users. The participants eventually totalled 733. The dissertation results supported its objectives and clarified four critical arguments by achieving: 1) a better understanding was reached of SMSs users\u27 behaviour and the psychological gratifications they derive from adopting SMSs; 2) those relationships were revalidated in the context of SMSs with hypotheses that focused on the relations between Perceived Ease of Use (PEOU), Perceived Usefulness (PU), attitude to Behavioral Intentions (BI) ; 3) the user\u27s journey via SMSs toward Behavioral Intentions (BI) could be speeded up (accelerated) or slowed down (decelerate) by one of two factors: Trust and Virtual Engagement; 4) the engaged user has the full intention to move from the virtual world to the real world. This research introduced a new concept, Customer Materialization . Moreover, this research contributes to the practical knowledge in the area of the social media and marketing through them, and has important practical solutions for increasing the effectiveness of marketing strategy overall and for the public sector on Social Media Sites (SMSs) in particular. Finally, this study has its own limitations and recognizing them should help refine future investigation efforts. Future researchers will also need to focus on integrating other SMSs and different contexts